Berserk, with its western-styled medieval fantasy setting could have been one such example, but it's arguably never broke free of its cult status. Anyone who looks into the franchise finds an extremely devoted fanbase, but regardless you still have to look to find it in the first place. It never got its chance to become omnipresent as the volume of the manga becomes increasingly less penetrable with no ending in sight, and the somewhat controversial anime adaptions were probably difficult to push on the West in their heyday due to the heavy amount of violence and other graphic imagery even with the anime already removing much of that element. There's definitely a subculture of anime fans who eat violent 90s pulp up and the Berserk anime has gained something of that reputation by osmosis, but there is a grace to most of the show that you don't find in other definitive cult classics such as Ninja Scroll, making this outlier stand much on its own for the benefit of its originality and to the detriment of its popularity.
Berserk is something defined most simply as an adventure genre story, as with most series that are too hard to pigeonhole. There's unquestionably plenty of action, but also significantly lengthy portions without it where it finds space to indulge in drama and the ambiance of its setting. In need of getting more specific, Berserk's story revolves around the relationship between Guts and Griffith. Guts is an orphaned, antisocial, brutish vagabond who happens to cross paths with the mercenary leader Griffith, who at first glance is his total opposite: well-groomed, effeminate, and extremely charismatic. Guts is demanded to join Griffith's mercenary group, the Band of the Hawk, after Griffith recognizes a hidden kindred spirit in Guts's strong sense of individuality and confidence. Guts passively admires Griffith's sense of self and ambition to gain power in the kingdom and semi-unconsciously grooms himself to be his greatest soldier and earn his respect.
With this begins a fairly loose plot progression centered around Griffith's upward mobility in the kingdom of Midland as they're hired to battle the enemy armies of Tudor. Though the long-term goal is immediately clear, that being Griffith and the Band of the Hawk's rise to power, the process of getting there isn't projected ahead of time and the progression unfolds at an extremely engrossing natural pace where circumstantial opportunities present themselves and the characters find themselves both slowly and suddenly developing their personalities and raising their positions.
This breathy pacing, which is somehow able to exist with the story's frequent harsh drive exemplified by heavy violence and cutthroat ambitions, is the mysterious hidden quality of the Berserk anime that draws in curiosity. If you were to write out the entire plot seen in the Berserk anime you probably wouldn't come up with that much material, and although the franchise is known for its dark fantasy elements those are rarely seen in this first arc which is far closer to traditional medieval fantasy. At its core, Berserk's first arc is made up of some seemingly ordinary pieces, but through the way it presents itself it manages to mystify these elements into things with heavier implications and ambiguity. There is a sense of mystery and uncertainty to Berserk's environment that's rarely explored in anime. If you actually look around for "arthouse" cult anime you'll find no shortage of ambient experiments, but it's far more difficult to find something that strikes that proper balance between a narrative with plenty of concrete definition with much of its space still obscured by an unknown atmosphere that welcomes a personal interpretation.
This is what brings Berserk to life, and unquestionably is what has allowed this series to continue to exist as a cult classic despite the manga far outpacing it and the anime significantly changing some events and removing content. The most frequently cited example of this is the toning down of violence. But given the amount of violence that's still left, such as everyone geysering out a torrent of blood with any cut, I can only imagine this being an improvement as it already borders on ridiculous and would be a poor juxtaposition to the serious atmosphere of the non-violent scenes, if it's not a poor juxtaposition as it already is. Indeed, Berserk's handling of some of the violence is possibly the one area you can consistently wag your finger at, including some of its more shonen-like moments such as characters jumping several feet in the air off of their opponent's sword (fortunately these moments are rare enough) when combat is otherwise portrayed semi-realistically. Those who think Berserk should be characterized as a grindfest are clearly doing a disservice to how much care has gone into its other, even more important qualities, which can be at odds with that ideal. One very commendable thing Berserk does with violence that aids its tone is that in its lack of restraint in portraying it, it also ends up with some realistic, unbiased depictions of violence you wouldn't normally see. The amount of blood can be very over the top, but the act of seeing somebody's head split open or a limb cut off is simple attention to detail and a plausible depiction of the barbaric nature of war. It's very possible to have the realistic but still very violent latter without the over-exaggeration of the former though, and I'm only pointing out that Berserk's approach to violence just happened to bring both the good and bad along with it. There's both the genuinely shocking and unsettling, and the completely indulgent kitsch, but at the end of the day the successes at the former overrule the latter because of their direct relation with and strengthening of the dramatic tone of the non-violent scenes surrounding them. The kitsch can be easily forgiven in comparison, and much of it is lost in the quick, surrounding chaos of the violence anyway.
Due credit has to be given to whichever peoples directed this anime in a general sense (for some reason I can't find a singular responsible person), as you'll only very rarely come across anime that has genuinely impactful direction. There's a bevy of great scene compositions and powerful stills, and when the animation budget struggles it's intelligently disguised as an event, complete with dynamic painted cut-ins during fights to vividly depict still images of violence with dark, rough, and jagged sketch-like outlines not seen in the typical art style to emphasize the impact of whats taking place without the need of several complex animation frames. Perhaps it's due to these subtle cut corners that the general animation is far above average at most times, with the painted backgrounds being expertly shaded to suit what would be natural lighting of the scenes, and character designs being heavily detailed and armor and other such outfits being heavily ormamented. To draw a general standard, this 25 episode series is nearly OVA-level quality in its entirety which is almost unheard of with that length, and much of it is due simply to how carefully the storyboards are directed as to please the eyes with ways other than constant, uninterrupted motion.
Rounding off Berserk's enveloping atmosphere is the use of music, and also the lack thereof. Berserk, despite having a complete and varied soundtrack, rarely opts to use any of it and will frequently play a great song in only a single scene. The majority of scenes have no background music playing at all, which adds to anime's dramatic side as it attempts to bring itself down to earth where it gains its greatest ambient qualities and distinct sense of tone. When the music does kick in it's only strengthened by how actually good the compositions are even in a context-less vacuum. The biggest standout is fortunately the series's most-played song, which is Guts's theme. This one song is the ideal representation of Berserk's soundtrack and its occasionally surreal atmosphere, at once sounding at home but on closer inspection actually containing anachronistic qualities. One such example is the opening and prominent use of synthesizers throughout that are tuned elegantly as to not draw much attention to the choice of modern instrument itself, and it sounds like there's heavy wind blowing underneath the song that always feels like it's coming from the background of the scene rather than as a part of the song which allows the music to take on its passive, ambient qualities as a natural companion of the scene on display rather than a typical song which is inserted more intrusively and designed to draw attention to itself. These airy qualities are complemented by acoustic string instruments, and the looping new age-esque vocals kick in to give the song a pious quality that's restrained enough to give a sense of harrowing vulnerability, both hope and hopelessness. This at first seemingly simple and catchy song is in reality unbelievably versatile and is suitably used in nearly every episode, always fitting in and coloring the scene its over in a variety of different ways according to what's depicted rather than in the same tone. It's pure magic whenever this track hits and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the single best example of Berserk's uncannily distant yet familiar, mystical atmosphere that melds itself to more interpretations than what the plot itself permits. It's one of the best songs ever composed for an anime.
This review hasn't found much space to talk about Berserk's actual plot, but that's intentionally done just as I believe it was intentionally done in the series to stress the implications surrounding the plot rather than what literally happens in the story. Character development, that of Guts specifically, unfolds so slowly and naturally that you feel like you're actually watching a person steadily evolve rather than change at sudden contrived checkpoints in the story. Character relationships often possess ambiguity through tone of dialogue and dialogue-less facial expressions and body language. Guts and Griffith are companions of a sort, they work for each other and have an unspoken admiration of each other and this is outright stated, but what that admiration is rooted in is never actually defined because its not entirely necessary to understand enough of the character's motivations and their place in the plot. But there's substance in the space between Guts and Griffith to infer something deeper is there rather than the relationship just being as simple as it's stated in dialogue. From the subtly different ways Griffith treats and looks at Guts, could he actually be in love with him? It's possible and easy to believe Griffith has no genuine interest in any possible woman he's connected to, but this detail is never outright given to the viewer which allows the viewer to actually insert some of their own feelings into the story, making it personal.
Like said, there's an actual mystery to Berserk as it recognizes the value of ambiguity, guiding the audience just enough to care to read between the lines and giving just enough to make multiple theories, but not anything, plausible. This quality actually ends up making a story that's more powerful and memorable than it would've been were these details of the story outright given to the viewer in a concrete way. Instead Berserk did a very uncommon and confident approach to storytelling in anime and become something much bigger than anything it would've possibly been with a traditional approach. The final act in particular is the most shocking and effective tonal twist I've ever seen in an anime (eat your heart out, Evangelion), and probably one of the greatest I've seen in any medium. Where it could've been sudden, forced, and contrived, just enough hints to make you wonder about the possibilities of the story are strewn throughout it to make this outcome both believable and shocking because the majority of the plot does an excellent job at distracting you from where it would be willing to go. Berserk is a relatively difficult anime series to approach despite its simple fan reputation as an "epic" dark action story, but there's far more than that to engage with that deceptively ends up making it much more rewarding and difficult to forget. Safely start your journey into the Berserk franchise here, because due to the stellar direction and aesthetic/aural design this is where much of the heart comes out.
